Search About Newsletters Donate
Christopher Tapp, right, and public defender John Thomas at a hearing at the Bonneville County Courthouse in Idaho that allowed Tapp to leave prison in 2017.
News July 16, 2019
In an Apparent First, Genetic Genealogy Aids a Wrongful Conviction Case
An Idaho man falsely confessed to a 1996 rape and murder.
By
Life Inside November 30, 2017
Two Wrongful Convictions. One Happy Marriage.
“It felt like the universe put us together.”
By
An illustration shows a Black man in a white T-shirt with his arms around an older Black woman in a polka-dotted shirt and an older Black man in a newsboy cap and black T-shirt. The left side of the illustration shows a freeway, with trees at the edge of the road.
Life Inside May 12, 2023
My Brother Was Wrongfully Convicted for Murder. 20 Years Later, So Was My Son.
Although it was a coincidence, I knew it wasn’t a mistake. What Louisiana was doing to men like my brother Elvis and my son Cedric was intentional.
By Earline Brooks Colbert, as told to
Life Inside May 26, 2016
When Your Job Is to Help Free a Wrongfully Convicted Murderer
Inside an innocence investigator’s hunt for a key witness.
By Lorea Gillespie
Jennifer Thompson has spoken about how wrongful convictions contribute to crime by allowing the guilty to go free.
Q&A March 21, 2018
When the Innocent Go to Prison, How Many Guilty Go Free?
A husband and wife want to upend how we talk about wrongful convictions.
By
Feature July 29, 2015
A One-Man Justice Crusade in North Carolina
Before there was a conservative push for reform, there was ‘Bev’ Lake.
By
A Black man, wearing a blue striped button-down shirt and black tie, sits with an emotional look on his face and eyes closed. A White female lawyer, sitting on his right, is looking down and smiling while patting him on his back. A White male lawyer, sitting on his left, is smiling while clapping his hands.
Closing Argument May 20, 2023
In 2022, Exonerations Hit a Record High in the U.S.
Globally, potential innocence has long outweighed potential guilt. That philosophy of justice may not be one that the majority of Americans endorse.
By
Jabbar Collins, who spent 16 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, reached a $10 million settlement with New York City.
Commentary March 13, 2018
Let’s Put an End to Prosecutorial Immunity
“The time has come to create some level of accountability for prosecutors.”
Frederic Block
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks during a conference at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City on Aug. 1, 2024. Bailey has aggressively pushed back on efforts by local prosecutors and judges to toss out convictions of people with innocence claims.
Closing Argument August 17, 2024
How Prosecutors Fight Exonerations
As laws are passed to support the wrongfully convicted, some officials in the legal system push back.
By
Q&A January 2, 2017
John Grisham on the State of Criminal Justice
“There are thousands of innocent people in prison serving long sentences for crimes committed by others.”
By
Commentary April 6, 2016
Oops, We Took 20 Years of Your Life by Mistake. Have a Nice Day.
What society owes the exonerated.
By Jarrett Adams
A portrait of a White man smiling and wearing a tank top is mounted inside of a picture frame.
Inside Story February 23, 2023
Police Shootings in Rural America
We investigate police shootings in rural areas and speak with music executive Jason Flom about his work with people who were wrongfully convicted.
By and
Scott Brettschneider, a lawyer from Queens, N.Y., plotted to pay a murder witness to recant his trial testimony in order to free a convicted killer and rake in big bucks from a wrongful conviction suit, prosecutors say.
News May 5, 2018
Fake Innocence
A lawyer’s scheme to stage a phony exoneration and cash in.
By
The Frame November 18, 2014
The Men Who Should Have Been Free
Revisiting “The Innocents,” one of the first photo series to explore the lives of the wrongfully convicted.
Photographs by Taryn Simon
Kim Foxx, left, was a guest speaker at the Chatham Business Association on Chicago’s South Side in late 2017.
Southside October 29, 2018
The Hustle of Kim Foxx
After the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald, can a new state’s attorney bring real reform to Chicago?
By Steve Bogira
Jon Eldan, right, with After Innocence clients Willie Green, left, and Danny Brown, in June 2016.
News June 22, 2016
How a Lawyer Gave Up Corporate Work to Help Exonerees Re-enter Society
When being innocent isn’t enough, you need Jon Eldan.
By
Lee Harris at Pontiac Correctional Center.
Southside November 2, 2018
Cellmates
Lee Harris spent years in prison without hope, until an unlikely friendship led to a years-long crusade to prove his innocence.
By Tori Marlan
James Ochoa recouped $36,000 after he was exonerated of a carjacking and armed robbery.
News November 19, 2018
Exonerees Racing Against a Tax Clock
The deadline for refunds is weeks away, but few know it.
By
Prosecutors like Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a former public defender, are establishing conviction integrity units. Now Krasner plans to review the sentences handed to those convicted of crimes.
News March 20, 2018
The DAs Who Want to Set the Guilty Free
‘Sentence review units’ would revisit harsh punishments from the past.
By
District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office was responsible for almost 38 percent of New York city’s jail population in 2016.
Feature April 29, 2018
The People vs. Cy Vance
Think the Manhattan DA goes easy on the rich? Take a look at how he prosecutes the poor.
By
Feature March 24, 2021
A Bestselling Author Became Obsessed With Freeing a Man From Prison. It Nearly Ruined Her Life.
After the success of her novel Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen spent years trying to prove a man’s innocence. Now she’s “absolutely broke” and “seriously ill,” and her next book is “years past deadline.”
By Abbott Kahler
Photographs by DeSean McClinton-Holland
Illustration of a white paper airplane flying in the sky with a faint city skyline with a blue and purple gradient in the background.
Cleveland Newsletter October 24, 2024
For Many in Ohio Prisons and Jails, Trump Gets Their Votes
Marshall Project survey of incarcerated people focuses on the ‘prosecutor vs. felon’ presidential race.
By The Marshall Project - Cleveland
Commentary January 27, 2015
A New York Lesson for Chicago (and Elsewhere)
Paying the wrongfully imprisoned, quickly, is both moral and economical.
By Alexa Van Brunt
An excerpt of a handwritten letter says: “The entire time I’ve been incarcerated, I’ve been prevented from properly fighting my wrongful conviction. O.D.R.C.’s new policy concerning legal mail has allowed the prisons to tamper, evade, and hold inmates confidential documents, which has effected my fight in the courts and has kept me wrongfully in prison.”
Cleveland Newsletter June 26
When Prison Staff Mishandle Legal Mail
Ohio mail disruptions are making it harder to appeal convictions and file lawsuits for abuse
By The Marshall Project - Cleveland
Henry McCollum, who was released from prison in North Carolina along with his half-brother after DNA evidence exonerated them in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
News October 24, 2017
Innocent, Disabled and Vulnerable
A judge protects an exonerated man from his lawyer.
By
About
People
Privacy
Sitemap
Funders